Beverages such as beer are sold in cartons or cases typically holding six, twelve, fifteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-four or twenty-eight bottles or cans per carton. The cartons are manufactured from corrugated cardboard, or a similar strong but recyclable paper product. A characteristic of corrugated cardboard and other paper products is that, unless they are specially coated, they tend to absorb water when exposed to same, and will tear easily when wet. Moreover, a box or carton made from a paper product that has not been coated for water resistance will leak if it is filled even partially with water.
A market exists, however, for a carton or case made from corrugated cardboard, or any other suitable paper product, that is capable of holding a large quantity of ice, in addition to its full complement of bottles. Such a product is useful, for instance, at picnics, or on other occasions when it is desired to provide cold beverages, but no refrigeration equipment is available. Previous attempts to provide such a product, which have met with some commercial success, have involved manufacturing a carton from a corrugated cardboard or other suitable material that has been coated with a waterproof substance such as wax, or plastic. The drawback of such an approach is that cartons or cases manufactured with such material must also be assembled in such a manner that there are no physical gaps in the box structure. This necessitates using wider, overlapping flaps on the sides and bottom of the container, and extensive amounts of glue. Moreover, the lowermost corners of cartons or cases manufactured in such a way should be reinforced, or they may leak.
The object of the present invention is to provide a liner that can be used with existing beverage cartons or cases, to permit the addition of ice thereto. Use of the liner of the present invention permits existing cartons or cases to be utilized without coating or treating the cardboard thereof for water resistance, and without requiring the employment of any special methods of manufacturing in connection with such cartons or cases.
In a broad aspect, then, the present invention relates to an insert for a beverage carton, said insert having a floor panel, end wall panels and side wall panels, and being dimensioned to fit inside a beverage carton and accommodate an array of beverage containers such as bottles or cans therein, said insert being substantially waterproof.